Letters: Minority wins again

On my way to work I heard the triathlon will be cancelled this year because of too many complaints to the CRD about Highway 14 being shut down for the event.

I need to justify a few things before I go on: I do not participate in the triathlon in any form. I am not even a spectator of the event. I do however like the idea of our beautiful part of the world being showcased to the world through TSN.

I do like the idea of our businesses getting the exposure they need to be sustainable. I also like the idea of tourists becoming curious about our piece of the island and wanting to explore Sooke.

Why do I like all of these things? The positive economic impact it has on our community in August and the residual business that it brings to our community cannot be replaced. The basic calculation to measure economic impact is number of visitors X number of days X spending money = economic impact. From my calculations the number of participants + media + support staff equals conservatively 572 people, and I estimated each person would spend in Sooke around $200 (hotel, gas, lunch, dinner, and a souvie or two). Again very conservative. The economic impact of the triatholon: $114,400 lost from our small community because of few people didn’t like the road closed. Not to mention all the days of training these athletes do before the race in Sooke, the free exposure of our community to the rest of Canada which could potentially drive tourism even further. Tour de France shuts down sections of their country for 21 days annually, yet we cannot shut down a road for a few hours on a weekend.